(Reuters) – American NGOs fund the protests that hold India back from building the nuclear reactors it needs to meet fast-growing energy needs, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said in an interview published in Science magazine on Friday.

Among the plants suffering delays is the Kudankulam power station in Tamil Nadu, which was due to open last year. Progress on the Russian-built reactor has been halted by protesters over safety fears.

“The atomic energy programme has got into problems because these NGOs, mostly I think based in the United States, don’t appreciate the need for our country to increase the energy supply,” Singh said in the interview (bit.ly/zUT6gJ)

The PM also blamed protests against genetically modified crops on groups he said were funded from the United States and Scandinavian countries.

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